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My first diet program for fast weight loss and fat burning was copied from my sister. She lost a lot of weight, and I did not like the way I looked and thought I would feel better by shedding some extra fat.

Like any dieter, the only information I knew about was "calories." At the time, my sister was telling me that calories caused body fat to accumulate. Being young and naive, I set out to rid myself of calories. I stopped eating, save for an egg and one piece of toast for breakfast, nothing for lunch, and salad and chicken for dinner. I quickly lost 13 pounds.

I felt great when I could fit into clothes that were previously too snug, but became exhausted and just damn irritable and mean. The diet ceased being a diet when I broke down and obliterated myself with an unending stream of food: cookies, ice cream, cake, pizza, etc. – all in a period of six hours.

I felt so mad, discouraged, and upset after that. Instead of getting right back on the diet that was different, but still accomplishing what I wanted, I earned 15 pounds in a few weeks by eating relatively normal. Now, 2 pounds fatter than when I started my first diet, I began to strategize.

I needed a new diet – a better one. Everywhere I looked from the newspaper to magazines, to the library and book stores, I found plenty on the confusing topic of weight loss. I purchased all of it. I read everything. I reasoned I would absorb and digest every bit of info out there on dieting and become an authority!

Surely, if I read everything available relating to the subject of weight loss, I could figure out or find the best diets and disregard the bad ones. Well, in doing so, I became more confused, as I'm sure many of you are right now.

I am sure you are just as tired as I am about hearing how terrible the current state of the real estate market is in Toronto, but is it really that bad?

No, the sky is not falling but there is no doubt that the Toronto real estate market has been affected by the US economic slowdown and because of this consumer confidence has also been affected … and some realtors have had to look for a "real job. "

The economic downturn in the states has no doubt had an impact on our economy. We are seeing fewer transactions occurring, (4,120 resale transactions in Feb '09 compared to 6,015 in Feb '08 according to TREB). Along with a reduction in the number of transactions that have occurred, average prices have also come down in comparison to the same time last year. According to TREB, in central Toronto the average price has gone from $ 404,202 (Jan, 2008) to $ 343,632 (Jan, 2009). Homes are also sitting on the market on average longer than the same time last year but what did we really expect? Did we really think last years wacky market of multiple offers and inflated prices would survive another year?

What does this real estate market mean to a Buyer or Seller in Toronto?

This is great news for buyers! This market is a blessing for first time buyers or those wanting home ownership but just could not afford it in the past. The declining average prices and the unbelievably low interest rates are a great combination! It's a Buyers market, so Buyers take advantage of this opportunity … it's a great time to buy! For sellers this type of market means pricing right and putting in extra effort to make sure your property shows at its potential. In the peak of the market, properties could sell the day they were put up for sale, now properties sit for longer but will still sell if priced right.

As we know, the real estate market is seasonal. As the spring market approaches all ready there is more activity in the city core than in the previous month. Just last week I was apart of two multiple offer situations in North York. Generally speaking the Toronto Real estate market tends to pick up in late spring and then begins its descend in July. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Commission is forecasting that Toronto will see its 6th or 7th best year in history. They are hiring for 75,000 sales in 2009. The next few months will be a great indicator of the state of the Toronto Real estate market. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

When buying a Pioneer AVH P4200DVD, you suppose you can watch all format video in this DVD player. But after installed onto your vehicle, you know if you can play a DivX format video only. So, what can you do?

Don’t waste your time by whining and complaint. The firstly you must do is dig deeper information about all video formats out there. Furthermore focusing your effort on how to make them run into the DVD player. Lets go.

DivXDivX is a video codec released by DivX in 2001 and extracted since 1998 by French hacker Jerome Rota at Montpellier. The DivX is distinct from DIVX or Digital Video Express. The last stable version is 7 and released in 2009. Then in September 2010, the DivX Plus Web Player (beta version) were introduced. In HTML5 video format, this version support for embedding video codec format others like DivX, AVI, MKV, MP4 and MOV video. Additional file format container also support for H264 video in MP4 or MOV.

AVIAVI or audio video interleaved is a multimedia container format produced by Microsoft as part of its video for Windows technology in November 1992. Recently the original AVI specification could not anticipating the fastest growing of new computer video techniques. This format have several problems within like cannot contain some specific types of VBR data reliably, does not provide a standardized way to encode aspect ratio information, and not intended to contain variable frame rate material.

MatroskaMatroska or The Matroska Multimedia Container (filename extension is MKV for video, MKA for audio, and MKS for subtitle) is an open standard free container format that early created in December 2002. Google in 2010 sponsored to development WebM, a multimedia container format that would be based on a profile of the Matroska by VP8 format in video and Vorbis in audio. This means a Matroska will be bigger and important than today.

QuickTimeQuickTime File Format (filename extension is MOV) is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework produced by Apple Inc. MOV capable to handle several formats of sound, picture, digital video, panoramic images and interactivity. QuickTime is integrated with MacOS X and downloadable for Windows as a standalone installation.

The four is a famous of video format and else many others available out there. But the problem about DVD player in AVH P4200 is it is only suitable with a DivX file. So, what can you do if you owned a MKV or MOV file?

You have three options. First, do not buy a AVH P4200 and find out car video others which supported your files. Second, do not watch your movies which cannot played by this Pioneer. Third, convert your files to DivX format. This is a best choice.

So, how to convert a MKV or AVI file to DivX format? Find out a video converter software. Don’t worry, many free version software downloadable out there, one of them is DivX Plus Converter. Pick up one movie file to convert as sample and play onto your AVH P4200. If you are satisfied with the convert result, you can convert more files. But free version of the DivX Plus Converter and DivX Plus Codec Pack available only for 15 days. After that you can purchase a Pro version and get a 30-day money-back guarantee.

By DivX Pro version, you can create a DivX file by unlock the pro features. You can easily convert MKV, WMV, AVI, MOV and MP4 files to DivX. You can create DivX file in your favorite video application like VirtualDub or Sony Vegas. You can also use pre-set profiles to make high-quality DivX videos for DivX HD, DivX home theater, or DivX wireless devices.

You can keep the new files into a USB flash drive or burn into a blank DVD. After that connected the file in the media to the AVH P4200 DVD player. And voila, you can watch the action of Megan Fox or enjoy the performance of Justin Bieber.

Sand belongs on the beach and not in your car or home. Everyone loves the beach, but unfortunately the sand loves to follow you when you leave. Though it is virtually impossible to keep every grain of sand on the beach and not in your car or home, a few basic steps can tremendously lower the amount.

1. Always wear sandals on the beach and not shoes that can trap sand.

2. Always carry toys, magazines, snacks, towels and other beach accessories in a mesh bag to allow the sand to fall out verse getting trapped in the bag to eventually end up in your car or home.

3. Place a tote in your trunk to place all beach bags, towels and chairs. The tote can be taken out of your car when you get home to wash off everything inside it.

4. Keep a small hose with attachment to wash feet off before entering your home.

5. Keep a bowl with water by the door and a towel on a hook. Clean your feet off before entering the house when coming home from the beach by sticking your feet in the bowl. Remember to put fresh water daily in the bowl to prevent bugs from attracting like mosquitoes.

6. Consider buying the Hoover Nomad Cordless Pressure Washer. Great to keep in your trunk to hose off feet, toys or chairs before getting into the car. This small unit holds 3.5 Gallons of water and is great at the beach, sporting events and anything imaginable outdoors. Long hose, 90 PSI and long battery life.

7. Keep your doormats by your home clean and new. Doormats do a tremendous job in attracting dirt when newer. Shake out regularly and spray down with a hose periodically. Keep your indoor mats clean daily and wash them weekly.

8. Consider an outdoor changing area to allow sandy bathing suits to stay outside and not inside a bedroom or bathroom. Rinse off the suit before bringing in a home.

9. Have a good stick vacuum near your entry areas to the home to capture the sand quickly. The three best stick vacuums are the Hoover Platinum Stick Vacuum, Oreck Rechargeable PR8000 and Karcher Sweeper.

10. The best vacuums indoor for capturing sand once inside the home are the Oreck XL 2000, Hoover C1404 and Koblenz Upright Vacuum.

The beach can be a very relaxing experience. Following these steps can make leaving the beach less stressful by bringing less of the beach sand home with you.